At least 30 migrants including young children drowned on Wednesday when they fell off an overloaded vessel in the Mediterranean, where tensions are rising between aid ships and the Libyan coast guard.

"There's a critical situation today. About 200 people fell into the water," a coastguard spokesman said, while a humanitarian worker at the scene said 31 bodies had been recovered.

The migrants were on a wooden boat carrying between 500 and 700 people and were just 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast when the accident happened.

The crew of the Phoenix aid boat, chartered by the Maltese NGO Moas, had begun the rescue and were distributing lifejackets when many of those on deck fell into the water, perhaps knocked off balance by a wave.

"Not a scene from a horror movie... Real life tragedy unfolding on Europe's doorstep today!," said Chris Catrambone, Moas co-founder, who was aboard the Phoenix and published photos showing white body bags lined up on the deck. "Rescuers are frantically trying to break open the locked hold on a wooden boat where hundreds of migrants are trapped!" he tweeted.

With the help of an Italian coast guard ship and several commercial ships, rescuers raced to drag as many people as possible from the water, while a military aircraft dropped life-rafts and a helicopter looked for survivors.

"Current body count at 31," Catrambone said, adding many who fell overboard had been "small toddlers".

About 15 relief operations were under way on Wednesday off Libya in total, the coast guard said.

On Tuesday, they coordinated the rescue of about 1,500 people, while their Libyan counterparts intercepted 237 others, including 20 women and 15 children, travelling on two wooden boats.

Among the migrants was a group of 12 Libyans - including five women and three children - who were trying to flee the conflict-hit country. Libyans have been a rare sight on migrant boats so far.

The German NGO Jugend Rettet said on Tuesday it had had a run-in with armed men on a boat purportedly commandeered by the Libyan coast guard.

Source: Khaleej Times